Feature Friday: Tribune’s Publication Day Changes from Friday to Thursday, January 1899

The Clayton Tribune was first published beginning in January 1898 by J. A. Reynolds, who established the paper and edited it for several years. Until the January 20, 1899 issue, The Tribune was published on Fridays, but beginning with the first issue of the second volume, dated January 26, 1899, Mr. Reynolds moved the publication day to Thursdays.

In the January 20th issue, Mr. Reynolds notes:

We have changed the date of publica
tion of Tribune from Friday to Thurs-
day. We [missing] this so the people can get
their mail [missing] the[?] county, at least, on the
Saturday following.

Knowing a newspaper’s normal publication day can help determine the dates of events that are otherwise unspecified or referenced in a vague manner. For instance, it was common not to mention the exact date of a death, but instead to give it in relationship to when the news was received. The death date of a person who died “Monday last” can be calculated from the date and day of publication, but could not be calculated from only the date of the pertinent issue without having to resort to locating a historical calendar.

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Quotation excerpted from my upcoming volume Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899, expected to be released in 2012.